The Controversy Surrounding TRIGGER's Illustration of Marcille Donato in Dungeon Meshi Anime Adaptation: Exploring the Debate

2024-01-08 14:30:48

In the first days of this month the anime adaptation of “Dungeon Meshi (Delicious in Dungeon)”, one of the great promises of the Winter-2024 season (January-March) by having the production of the studios TRIGGERwho had not produced any series since the success of “Cyberpunk: Edgerunners” in 2022. Unfortunately, The series just went through a controversy that no one really expected.

It turns out that TRIGGER was counting down prior to the premiere of the adaptation, and for them they shared a variety of illustrations made by the production team. The one about “one day left” was made by the animation director Akihiro Satou and was starred by Marcille Donato, the chica protagonist. Marcille is a fairly intelligent and loyal girl, but also very nervous and has a hard time facing things outside of her comfort zone (like eating monsters). In “Dungeon Meshi”, She is the sorceress of the group and joins the mission to rescue the protagonist’s sister, her best friend.

In the illustration we can see Marcille lying with her staff and her hair disheveled against the floor, while keeping a smile on her face. That’s all that’s shown, but it was enough for a certain section of people on Twitter to be upset by its “sexualized representation.”, according to them. For this reason, comments such as:

«This should be banned! Not with my favorite! His butt shouldn’t be posed for fan-service».
«It will be too forced every time they want to make her look sensual, she is not supposed to be sensual, she makes others feel sorry for her and all the fans love her for it».
«God, please take away all of TRIGGER’s sexualization of female characters.».
«This pose with that flirtatious smile that they gave Marcille will be the reason why I will commit a hate crime».
«This is literally fake, she would hate to be lying on a dirty dungeon floor surrounded by worms and insects, stop doing this kind of thing now!».
«TRIGGER, I swear to God, they will feel my wrath like a thousand hurricane winds, you fucking shitty studio. I know the characters I like well, damn».
«She is simply lying down holding her staff. Is that supposed to be sexual?».
«Some of the publications cited say that this illustration of a blonde girl lying down in all her clothes is “over-sexualization” and even get violent about it. This is no longer a problem of “normies” entering the anime community, everyone is simply mentally retarded.».
«People complain that this is too sexualized when it is much more conservative and cute than any western illustration from the 40s or 50s».
«Remember that anyone who says this illustration is “over-sexualized” is a porn addict in denial.».
«I saw a mention saying that “she would never pose for fan-service” and I just felt bad for the artist who tried his best to show a beautiful composition for a promo, and that the idiots who have never drawn shit on your life is about complaining about stupid things».
«Anyone who says this illustration is “over-sexualized” automatically loses the right to call someone a “porn addict.”».
«How is this even remotely sexualized? She is a girl with all her clothes lying on the ground. Is she showing flesh? Are we falling behind socially to the point that showing our ankles is wrong and should be embarrassing? What the hell is going through these morons’ minds?».
«Anyone who has seen nothing but porn recently, and who sees a girl lying on the floor for the first time, will surely think that they are “feeling porn vibes in the picture.”».
«It is literally the most normal illustration I have ever seen, there is nothing suggestive about it. But porn addicts prefer to humiliate themselves again by saying that “they are sexualizing them”»
«I really feel bad for the idiots who scream that this is “sexualization.” They’ve trained themselves to see fan-service in anything so they can get angry about it. It is not a healthy way to live life. They have become more addicted to porn than the people they criticize so much».